Thanksgiving Break 2012

We enjoyed four days together in celebration of the Thanksgiving Holiday and we took advantage of having some extra time at home and just relaxed.  It was great!  In the spirit of Thanksgiving we tried to teach Stella about the meaning of this holiday and when we asked her what she was thankful for she said 'Aunt Mary Jane'.  Not only was this so very adorable but very fitting since Mary Jane hosted us for our Thanksgiving meal!  In addition to enjoying a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Mary Jane's with Grammie & Pa, we were very fortunate to have some special time with family friends over the break too - we visited with the Mill's, and shared a meal with the Reome/Brown's.  While we thought about putting up our Christmas tree since we had some extra time we decided against it because we fully expect Claire will be trying to climb in daily.  We'll just wait another week or two but we sure wish we could have a four-day weekend more often! 

Purple for Preemies!

Posing for a picture after Stella's final gymnastics
class of the year.

November 17 is World Prematurity Day so we all sported purple in honor of this important event to focus attention and raise awareness on the global problem of premature birth.  We have literally experienced both the best and worst outcomes resulting from babies being born too soon.  In the United States, 1 in 8 babies are delivered too early.  Visit www.marchofdimes.com to learn more.  We miss you Trey ♥

Mommy's Trip

This week the girls had some special time with their daddy while I was away at a conference for 3 days.  This was the first time I spent time away from everyone in my little family all at once.  Stella and I started talking about my trip last weekend and made a calendar for the week so she could keep track of when I was leaving and when I'd be back.  We all did great and surprisingly there were no tears (not even from me!).  This weekend we were busy with lots of fun stuff - Kristen's baby shower, Miss Katy's birthday celebration, and time with Grammie and Aunt Mary Jane.  We've been so busy so we are feeling very luck to have another day at home together tomorrow!

Precious Moments

This week the girls had fun dressing up for Halloween and Stella enjoyed trick-or-treating with her daddy.  Grammie and Pa came over to hand out candy with us and that was fun.  We had special visitors this year too which was a welcomed surprise!  When we spent time in Burlington we met a family from Brasher who also had a son experiencing respiratory distress.  Christopher had a room right next to Trey and his mom Sandy was famous for cooking and baking special treats in the Ronald McDonald Family room at the hospital and we were lucky enough to benefit from her kitchen talents often!  Sandy and her older son Xavier stopped by to trick-or-treat and shared wonderful news that Christopher will finally be able to come home this month!  Nearly his entire little life has been spent in care facilities so this is such big news.  We are so hopeful for Sandy and her family that Christopher's homecoming will be everything they've waited for and dreamed it would be!

As Stella and Claire continue to grow and thrive we are captivated by special moments: the two of them chasing each other around and giggling, Claire's warm snuggles when she's sleepy, Stella's new discovery of the words and meaning of 'I love you', Claire's hilarious yet deviant behavior - such as stealing Stella's cup and running away with it - on purpose!, and Stella singing along at church.  We keep reminding ourselves to salvage these moments - we know they will pass too quickly.

This morning when we arrived at Church and I asked Stella to
take her jacket off she made herself at home and took her shoes off too!